Jesus had died, his lifeless body was hanging on the cross, deserted apparently by most of his disciples, but then a rich man, Joseph of Arimathea, suddenly appears. He wraps Jesus’ body in linen, with myrrh and aloes, and gives him a decent burial in a new tomb which he had hewn out for himself, in a beautiful garden. Isaiah 53:9, written 800 years before, was fulfilled. Evil men assigned Jesus a grave with criminals, but God assigned him a grave with the rich. This is the only appearance of Joseph on the pages of history, but it’s an important one.

A. Joseph was rich and a ruler, but most importantly he was a righteous man (Luke 23:50. The word translated ‘upright’ in the NIV is translated as ‘righteous’ in verse 47 and should have been so translated in verse 50). It means that though Joseph was by nature and practice a guilty sinner, now that he was a disciple, God looked upon him as a righteous person. That is the position of every true disciple of Christ.

How could God look upon Joseph and reckon him to be righteous? Not because he turns a blind eye to sin. Not because of anything Joseph did, but because his sin had been imputed to Christ and because the righteousness of Christ had been imputed to him. Christ had taken Joseph’s ‘rags’ and died for them, and had given him his righteousness. (2 Corinthians 5:21).

B. Joseph was a good man (Luke 23:50). He sought to live a life that was good and pleasing to God. Although he was a member of the Sanhedrin Council, he had distanced himself from their evil deed in arresting Jesus (Luke 23:51). We are not saved by our attempts to live a good life (Romans 3:20), but having been justified and declared righteous because of what Christ has done for us, we should, out of sheer gratitude, seek to live a righteous life.

C. Joseph wasn’t a perfect man (John 19:38) He kept secret the fact that he was a disciple of Jesus because he was afraid of the Jews (Proverbs 29:25). He was scared that his fellow Jews on the Council would mock him, persecute him and that he would lose his important position in society. We are all so weak and prone to sin. We do not condone that, but we must always remember it, so as to keep us humble, and gentle towards other Christians who fail (Luke 17:10).

One of the areas where we fail most in where Joseph failed. We hide the fact that we are disciples of Christ.

D. Joseph fought against his faults and fears and overcame them (John 19:38). He plucked up courage, went to Pilate and asked permission to take the body of Jesus and give him a decent burial (see Mark 15:43). To identify himself with Jesus, like that, was a dangerous thing to do. Have we failed the Lord through cowardice? The lesson from Joseph is that it is possible by God’s grace and power to be forgiven for our failures and to overcome them. If we have been a secret disciple, one of the best ways to come out into the open is to be baptised.

E. There were two things that encouraged Joseph to make his stand.

1. The support of Nicodemus (John 19:39). Nicodemus was a fellow Jewish leader on the Sanhedrin Council. He was the man who came to Jesus at night (John 3:2}. He had obviously wanted to meet Jesus but was also scared of the Jewish leaders. Later on in John 7:50 he was troubled, spiritually. The Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest Jesus and when they came back without him they were annoyed and demanded an explanation. The guards replied, ‘No one ever spoke the way this man does.’ That made the Pharisees even more angry. ‘You mean he has deceived you too. You ignorant lot. None of the Pharisees have believed in him’. That statement troubled Nicodemus. He did believe in Jesus and he knew it would be a sin to keep quiet at this point. But he was still scared so he just asked a question, ‘Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?’ That was a bit weak, but it was a stand, of sorts. Now in John 19:39, plucks up courage and comes with Joseph to anoint the body in an honourable way. Two weak, timid disciples encourage one another and together they identify themselves with the Lord.

2. The fact of the Saviour dying upon the cross. (John 19:38) John is telling us that there was something about the death of Jesus that stirred Joseph to fight against his fears and to be all out for the Lord.